Telecommunication terminal

ABSTRACT

A telecommunication terminal that integrated with a wireless access point is provided. According to one embodiment, a telecommunication terminal comprising a phone unit, a wireless access point unit, a local area network (LAN) port that is capable of connecting to a computer network and a housing that encloses said phone unit, said wireless access point unit and said LAN port.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

Contained herein is material that is subject to copyright protection.The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction ofthe patent disclosure by any person as it appears in the Patent andTrademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves allrights to the copyright whatsoever. Copyright © 2014, Fortinet, Inc.

BACKGROUND

Field

Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to the field ofcommunication techniques. In particular, various embodiments relate to atelecommunication terminal that is integrated with a wireless accesspoint (AP).

Description of the Related Art

Usually, in an office area, each cubicle is equipped with a phone set.The phone set may be a traditional telephone that is connected to apublic switched telephone network (PSTN) through a telephone line. Ifthe phone set is an Internet Protocol (IP) phone, the IP phone isconnected to a computer network through a local area network (LAN) cableand then connected to a PSTN through the computer network. An officearea is also provided with a wireless LAN (WLAN) connection. To provideWi-Fi (IEEE 802.11x.) coverage, one or more wireless APs may bedeployed. Typically, the wireless APs are connected to a switch or an APcontroller through an Ethernet cable. To provide a better coverage, awireless AP is usually mounted on the ceiling of the office area and along Ethernet cable across the ceiling is needed to connect the AP witha switch. As mounting of APs and cables on a ceiling is time-consumingand labor-consuming, there is a need for an integrated network applianceto simplify the deployment of wireless APs.

SUMMARY

A telecommunication terminal is described for combining a phone set witha wireless AP to provide telephone service and WLAN service by the samedevice. According to one embodiment, a telecommunication terminalcomprising a phone unit, a wireless access point unit, a local areanetwork (LAN) port that is capable of connecting to a computer networkand a housing that encloses said phone unit, said wireless access pointunit and said LAN port. Only one cable is needed for connecting thetelecommunication terminal to the computer network and telephonenetwork. Wireless APs may be deployed easily and flexibly at desiredplace without deploying additional cables. Construction works formounting the APs on the ceiling are omitted and the costs for mountingAPs are significantly lowered. Other features of embodiments of thepresent invention will be apparent from the accompanying drawings andfrom the detailed description that follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the present invention are illustrated by way of example,and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanyingdrawings and in which like reference numerals refer to similar elementsand in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates exemplary functional units of a telecommunicationterminal in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates exemplary functional units of a telecommunicationterminal in accordance with a second embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 illustrates exemplary functional units of an IP phone set inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates exemplary functional units of a wireless AP inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates exemplary functional units of a telecommunicationterminal in accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates exemplary functional units of a telecommunicationterminal in accordance with a fourth embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary computer system in which or with whichembodiments of the present invention may be utilized.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A telecommunication terminal is described for combining a phone set witha wireless access point so that mounting of the wireless access point isomitted and deployment of the wireless AP is simplified. For example, anIP phone set may be integrated with a wireless AP and share the same LANcable and the wireless AP may be deployed at the desktop where the IPphone is located. Further, a keypad and a display of the IP phone may beshared with the wireless AP so that the wireless AP may be configuredlocally at the device.

Terminology

Brief definitions of terms used throughout this application are givenbelow.

The terms “connected” or “coupled” and related terms are used in anoperational sense and are not necessarily limited to a direct connectionor coupling. Thus, for example, two devices may be coupled directly, orvia one or more intermediary media or devices. As another example,devices may be coupled in such a way that information can be passedthere between, while not sharing any physical connection with oneanother. Based on the disclosure provided herein, one of ordinary skillin the art will appreciate a variety of ways in which connection orcoupling exists in accordance with the aforementioned definition.

The phrases “in an embodiment,” “according to one embodiment,” and thelike generally mean the particular feature, structure, or characteristicfollowing the phrase is included in at least one embodiment of thepresent disclosure, and may be included in more than one embodiment ofthe present disclosure. Importantly, such phrases do not necessarilyrefer to the same embodiment.

If the specification states a component or feature “may”, “can”,“could”, or “might” be included or have a characteristic, thatparticular component or feature is not required to be included or havethe characteristic.

The phrase “networking appliance” generally refers to a specialized ordedicated device for use on a network in virtual or physical form. Somenetworking appliances are implemented as general-purpose computers withappropriate software configured for the particular functions to beprovided by the networking appliance; others include custom hardware(e.g., one or more custom Application Specific Integrated Circuits(ASICs)). Examples of functionality that may be provided by a networkingappliance include, but is not limited to, Layer 2/3 routing, contentinspection, content filtering, firewall, traffic shaping, applicationcontrol, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) support, VPN, InternetProtocol (IP) security (IPSec), Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), antivirus,intrusion detection, intrusion prevention, Web content filtering,spyware prevention and anti-spam. Examples of networking appliancesinclude, but are not limited to, network gateways and network securityappliances (e.g., FORTIGATE family of network security appliances andFORTICARRIER family of consolidated security appliances), messagingsecurity appliances (e.g., FORTIMAIL family of messaging securityappliances), database security and/or compliance appliances (e.g.,FORTIDB database security and compliance appliance), web applicationfirewall appliances (e.g., FORTIWEB family of web application firewallappliances), application acceleration appliances, server load balancingappliances (e.g., FORTIBALANCER family of application deliverycontrollers), vulnerability management appliances (e.g., FORTISCANfamily of vulnerability management appliances), configuration,provisioning, update and/or management appliances (e.g., FORTIMANAGERfamily of management appliances), logging, analyzing and/or reportingappliances (e.g., FORTIANALYZER family of network security reportingappliances), bypass appliances (e.g., FORTIBRIDGE family of bypassappliances), Domain Name Server (DNS) appliances (e.g., FORTIDNS familyof DNS appliances), wireless security appliances (e.g., FORTIWIFI familyof wireless security gateways), FORIDDOS, wireless access pointappliances (e.g., FORTIAP wireless access points), switches (e.g.,FORTISWITCH family of switches) and IP-PBX phone system appliances(e.g., FORTIVOICE family of IP-PBX phone systems).

The phase “security device” generally refers to a hardware device orappliance configured to be coupled to a network and to provide one ormore of data privacy, protection, encryption and security. The networksecurity device can be a device providing one or more of the followingfeatures: network firewalling, Virtual Private Networking (VPN),antivirus, IPS, content filtering, data leak prevention, antispam,antispyware, logging, reputation-based protections, event correlation,network access control, vulnerability management, load balancing andtraffic shaping—that can be deployed individually as a point solution orin various combinations as a UTM solution. Non-limiting examples ofnetwork security devices include proxy servers, firewalls, VPNappliances, gateways, UTM appliances and the like.

FIG. 1 illustrates exemplary functional units of a telecommunicationterminal 100 in accordance with a first embodiment of the presentinvention. In the first embodiment, a traditional PSTN telephone set iscombined with a wireless access point. The telecommunication terminal100 of FIG. 1 comprises a phone unit 102 and a wireless AP unit 103.Phone unit 102 and wireless AP unit 103 are contained in a commonhousing 101. Phone unit 102 connects to a PSTN 104 through a telephoneport and wireless AP unit 103 connects to LAN 105 through a LAN port. Insome embodiments, all the hardware of the two units remain separate andthe two units may operate independently. In other embodiments, phoneunit 102 and wireless AP unit 103 may operate independently but share afew common parts, such as power units. By integrating a wireless AP intoa telephone set, the wireless access point may be easily deployed at theplace where the telephone set is located and the time-consuming andlabor-intensive installation process of mounting wireless APs on theceiling may be omitted.

FIG. 2 illustrates exemplary functional units of a telecommunicationterminal 200 in accordance with a second embodiment of the presentinvention. In the second embodiment, an IP phone is combined with awireless access point and hardware and operations of the two devices areindependent. Telecommunication terminal 200 comprises an IP phone unit201 and a wireless AP unit 202. The two units are contained in a commonhousing 204. In one embodiment, IP phone unit 201 and AP unit 202connect to a computer network, such as LAN 205, through respective LANports. These two units may comprise respective network interface cards(NICs) and connect to LAN 205 through two cables. However, to simplifythe connection and reduce the number of cables that are need to connecttelecommunication terminal 200, a switch 203 may be integrated intotelecommunication terminal 200. One port of switch 203 connects to LAN205 through one cable and then IP phone unit 201 and wireless AP unit202 connect to other ports of switch 203 so that the same cable may beshared by the two units. It will be apparent to one skilled in the artthat a hub or a router, instead of switch 203, may be used for sharingthe same cable between IP phone unit 201 and wireless AP unit 202. Byconnecting the telecommunication terminal 200 to a LAN jack on the wall,a wireless access point may be easily deployed at desired place, again,without incurring the time-consuming and labor-intensive installationprocess of mounting wireless APs on the ceiling. The hardware structuresof IP phone unit 201 and AP 202 unit that may be used in embodiments ofthe present invention will be described in detail below with referenceto FIGS. 3 and 4.

FIG. 3 illustrates exemplary hardware units of an IP phone set inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. IP phone unit300 comprises a keypad 301, a display 302, a speaker 303, an audio/videocodec 304, a microphone 307, a processor 305, a memory 306 and anEthernet transceiver 308. IP phone unit 300 of FIG. 3 may implementaudio/video communication through IP network.

Processor 305 executes call control based on call control protocols,such as Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) or H.323. Processor 305 alsoprovides necessary instructions to keypad 301, display 302, audio/videocodec 304 and Ethernet transceiver 308. It will be apparent to oneskilled in the art that processors from manufacturers, such as Intel,AMD, ARM, or the like may be used.

Memory 306 may include Read Only Memory (ROM) and Random Access Memory(RAM) functions. Some portions of the ROM may store an operating systemand others may store such programs as the program for controllingcommunication, which is executed by processor 305. A RAM functions as awork memory when processor 305 executes the control program.

Speaker 303, audio/video codec 304 and microphone 307 usually consist ofa handset that may be connected to processor 305. The handset may sendan off-hook or on-hook signal depending on the user's on-or-off hookoperation. When starting communication with the destination terminal,audio/video codec 304 converts the user's voice into a transmittingaudio signal through the microphone and outputs the signal to processor305. At the same time, audio/video codec 304 outputs, through thespeaker, a receiving voice signal input by processor 305, as a receivingvoice. A camera may also be incorporated into IP phone unit 300 so thatthe user's image may be captured and transmitted. The video signalreceived by IP phone unit 300 may also be decoded and displayed ondisplay 302.

Display 302 is used for displaying the status of operations of IP phoneunit 300, such as the incoming/outgoing call numbers, the call history,contacts in phone book etc. Display 302 may also display video receivedfrom the communication peer or captured by the camera of IP phone unit300. Display 302 is configured with an LCD or the like.

Ethernet transceiver 308 is an interface to an IP network to which IPphone is connected. Ethernet transceiver 308 is used for receiving andsending data packets from/to the IP network. It will be apparent to oneskilled in the art that Ethernet transceiver 308 may be any kind ofEthernet transceiver that supports 10/100/1000 Mbps or higheroperations.

FIG. 4 illustrates exemplary hardware units of a wireless AP inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Wireless AP unit400 may connect to a computer network and provides wireless connectionsto other Wi-Fi-enabled devices within its coverage so that theseWi-Fi-enabled devices may access the computer network. Wireless AP unit400 comprises processor 403, memory 404, Ethernet transceiver 405,baseband processor 402 and RF transceiver 401.

Processor 403 controls the operations of wireless AP unit 400 thatrelays data between connected wireless devices to a connected wiredEthernet switch. A tunnel, such as a Control and Provisioning ofWireless Access Points (CAPWAP) tunnel, may also be established betweenwireless AP unit 400 and an AP controller (not shown) so that wirelessAP unit 400 may be managed from a remote point in a secure manner. Layer2 (L2) and Layer 3 (L3) applications may be loaded from memory 404 andexecuted by processor 403. It will be apparent to one skilled in the artthat processors from manufacturers, such as Intel, AMD, ARM, or the likemay be used.

Baseband processor 402 is used for carrying out baseband processing ondata received or to be sent by radio frequency (RF) transceiver 401.Baseband processor 402 may be a chip that manages all the radio functionof wireless AP unit 400.

RF transceiver 401 may provide, on a single semiconductor integratedcircuit, a receiver circuit for each of a plurality of antennas and atransmit circuit for each of the plurality of antennas. Each receivercircuit downconverts the RF signal detected by its associated antenna toa baseband signal and each transmit circuit upconverts a baseband signalto be transmitted by an assigned antenna.

Wired Ethernet transceiver 405 serves as an interface with a LAN towhich wireless AP unit 400 is connected. Ethernet transceiver 405connects to the LAN through a wired connection so that the devicesconnected to wireless AP unit 400 through wireless channels may sharethe wired connection. Data packets between the wireless connected deviceand the LAN may be transferred through wired Ethernet transceiver 405.

It will apparent to one skilled in the art that the units providingwireless connection (such as RF transceiver 401, baseband processor 402)and the units providing wired connection may be integrated into one chipto provide a highly integrated solution for wireless AP unit 400.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary software structure of atelecommunication terminal in accordance with a third embodiment of thepresent invention. In the third embodiment, IP phone functions andwireless AP functions are implemented in a single operating system. Theintegrated device 500 shown in FIG. 5 comprises a wireless APapplication 501, an IP phone application 502, an operating system 503, aTransmission Control Protocol (TCP)/IP layer 504, a network driver 505,a wired NIC 506 and a wireless NIC 508.

In the present embodiment, wired NIC 506 performs Ethernet physical andMAC layer functions. Wired NIC 506 may include, for example, an EthernetNIC (or transceiver as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4) for transmittinginformation over an Ethernet cable. Wireless NIC 116 may include a WLANNIC or WLAN transceiver (as shown in FIG. 4) for transmitting andreceiving information via a WLAN wireless link.

Operating system 503 is used for managing the hardware and softwareresources of integrated device 500 and providing basic functions toapplications of integrated device 500. The operating system 503 may be abuilt-in operating system, such as WINDOWS, LINUX, Darwin, RTXC, UNIX,OS X, or VxWorks. Operating system 503 may load network driver 505 thatcouples a networking protocol layer (such as TCP/IP layer 504) with thenetwork interface cards of integrated device 500. Network driver 505 ispreferably implemented in accordance with standard interfacespecifications, such as Open Data-Link Interface (ODI) and the NetworkDriver Interface Specification (NDIS). Network driver 505 may convertairwave data into wired Ethernet data, acting as a bridge between thewired LAN and wireless clients.

Wireless AP application 501 is used for managing wireless AP functionsof integrated device 500. The administrator may configure the AP throughthe wireless AP application 501, such as adjusting the power orbeam-forming parameters of antennas through an antenna controller. Inother embodiments, the functions of wireless AP application 501 may beimplemented as a daemon or even be implemented in the kernel ofoperating system 503.

In various embodiments, interference reduction software algorithms mayalso be implemented within or separate from wireless AP application 601to, among other things, detect the best radio channel and power toavoid/reduce co-channel interference among multiple telecommunicationterminals. The locations, configuration and/or arrangement oftelecommunication terminals within an enterprise location may also beperformed in a manner that allows optimum utilization of available radiochannels and have lower channel interference for a given coverage area.Depending upon the particular implementation, automated interferencereduction methodologies may be performed autonomously by individualtelecommunication terminals, collectively, with cooperation amongmultiple telecommunication terminals or centrally by an interferencemanagement device, for example.

IP phone application 502 is used for providing Voice over IP (VoIP)phone functions based on corresponding VoIP protocols, such as SIP,H.323 and the like. IP phone application 502 facilitates communicationwith the network for receiving and placing communication calls andtransfers audio/video signals between the integrated device 500 andanother peer.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary software structure of atelecommunication terminal in accordance with a fourth embodiment of thepresent invention. In the fourth embodiment, IP phone functions andwireless AP functions are implemented in a single system, but oneapplication runs in a host system while the other runs in a virtualmachine (VM) system. Integrated device 600 shown in FIG. 6 comprises awireless AP application 601, an operating system 603, a TCP/IP layer604, a network driver 605, a wired network interface card (NIC) 606 anda wireless NIC 607. These units are the same as the corresponding unitsin the third embodiment shown in FIG. 5.

In this embodiment, wireless AP application 601 may be configured to beloaded and run in the host system, i.e., operating system 603. VM 608 ishosted by operating system 603 and VM operating system 609 may beconfigured to run on VM 608 and IP phone application 602 may beconfigured to run in VM operating system 609. It is to be understood, inalternative embodiments, IP phone application 602 may be configured torun in the host system while wireless AP application 601 may beconfigured to run in the VM.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary computer system in which or with whichembodiments of the present invention may be utilized. Computer system700 may represent or form a part of a security device that performshuman user verification when a high risk network access is captured.

Embodiments of the present disclosure include various steps, which willbe described in more detail below. A variety of these steps may beperformed by hardware components or may be tangibly embodied on acomputer-readable storage medium in the form of machine-executableinstructions, which may be used to cause a general-purpose orspecial-purpose processor programmed with instructions to perform thesesteps. Alternatively, the steps may be performed by a combination ofhardware, software, and/or firmware.

As shown, computer system 700 includes a bus 730, a processor 705,communication port 710, a main memory 715, a removable storage media740, a read only memory 720 and a mass storage 725. A person skilled inthe art will appreciate that computer system 700 may include more thanone processor and communication ports.

Examples of processor 705 include, but are not limited to, an Intel®Itanium® or Itanium 2 processor(s), or AMD® Opteron® or Athlon MP®processor(s), Motorola® lines of processors, FortiSOC™ system on a chipprocessors or other future processors. Processor 705 may include variousmodules associated with monitoring unit as described in FIGS. 2-4.Communication port 710 can be any of an RS-232 port for use with a modembased dialup connection, a 10/100 Ethernet port, a Gigabit or 10 Gigabitport using copper or fiber, a serial port, a parallel port, or otherexisting or future ports. Communication port 710 may be chosen dependingon a network, such a Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN),or any network to which computer system 700 connects.

Memory 715 can be Random Access Memory (RAM), or any other dynamicstorage device commonly known in the art. Read only memory 720 can beany static storage device(s) such as, but not limited to, a ProgrammableRead Only Memory (PROM) chips for storing static information such asstart-up or BIOS instructions for processor 705.

Mass storage 725 may be any current or future mass storage solution,which can be used to store information and/or instructions. Exemplarymass storage solutions include, but are not limited to, ParallelAdvanced Technology Attachment (PATA) or Serial Advanced TechnologyAttachment (SATA) hard disk drives or solid-state drives (internal orexternal, e.g., having Universal Serial Bus (USB) and/or Firewireinterfaces), such as those available from Seagate (e.g., the SeagateBarracuda 7200 family) or Hitachi (e.g., the Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000),one or more optical discs, Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID)storage, such as an array of disks (e.g., SATA arrays), available fromvarious vendors including Dot Hill Systems Corp., LaCie, NexsanTechnologies, Inc. and Enhance Technology, Inc.

Bus 730 communicatively couples processor(s) 705 with the other memory,storage and communication blocks. Bus 730 can be, such as a PeripheralComponent Interconnect (PCI)/PCI Extended (PCI-X) bus, Small ComputerSystem Interface (SCSI), USB or the like, for connecting expansioncards, drives and other subsystems as well as other buses, such a frontside bus (FSB), which connects processor 705 to system memory.

Optionally, operator and administrative interfaces, such as a display,keyboard, and a cursor control device, may also be coupled to bus 730 tosupport direct operator interaction with computer system 700. Otheroperator and administrative interfaces can be provided through networkconnections connected through communication port 710.

Removable storage media 740 can be any kind of external hard-drives,floppy drives, IOMEGA® ZIP Drives, Compact Disc-Read Only Memory(CD-ROM), Compact Disc-Re-Writable (CD-RW), Digital Video Disk-Read OnlyMemory (DVD-ROM).

While embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described,it will be clear that the invention is not limited to these embodimentsonly. Numerous modifications, changes, variations, substitutions, andequivalents will be apparent to those skilled in the art, withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention, as described inthe claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A telecommunication terminal comprising: a localarea network (LAN) port connectable to an enterprise computer networkvia an Ethernet cable; an Internet Protocol (IP) phone unit; a wirelessaccess point unit that facilitates access to the enterprise computernetwork by wireless devices within a coverage area of the wirelessaccess point unit by providing wireless connections to the wirelessdevices; a switch device interposed between each of the IP phone unitand the wireless access point unit and the LAN port, wherein the IPphone unit and the wireless access point unit share the LAN port toaccess the enterprise computer network; and a housing that encloses saidIP phone unit, said wireless access point unit, said switch device andsaid LAN port, wherein said IP phone unit, said access point unit, saidswitch device and said LAN port are an integral part of thetelecommunication terminal and contained within the housing.
 2. Thetelecommunication terminal of claim 1, wherein said telephone unit andsaid wireless access point unit share a common power unit.
 3. Thetelecommunication terminal of claim 1, wherein said switching devicecomprises one of a hub, a switch, a router or a gateway.
 4. Thetelecommunication terminal of claim 1, further comprising a keypad and adisplay, wherein said keypad and said display are shared by said IPphone unit and said wireless access point unit.
 5. The telecommunicationterminal of claim 4, wherein said wireless access point unit isconfigurable through said keypad and said display.
 6. Thetelecommunication terminal of claim 1, further comprising an antennacontroller for adjusting the antenna power transmit level of saidwireless access point unit.
 7. The telecommunication terminal of claim1, further comprising an antenna controller for adjusting beam-formingof said wireless access point unit.